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PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THEOEA/Ser.G
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATESCP/CAJP-2061/03
22 May 2003
COMMITTEE ON JURIDICAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRSOriginal: Spanish/English
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MEMBER STATES
ON THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTSFOR 2002
(Provisional version prepared based on the written submissions
provided by the member states and the IACHR)
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OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MEMBER STATES
ON THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTSFOR 2002
(Provisional version prepared based on the written submissions
provided by the member states and the IACHR)
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CP/doc.3709/03) was submitted by Marta Altolaguirre, President of the IACHR, during the session of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs held April 2, 2003.
The CAJP decided to forward for the consideration of the Permanent Council the text of Ms.Altolaguirre’s presentation and the comments by the delegations that were submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Permanent Council.
Pursuant to that decision, this document compiles the texts received by the Secretariat of the Permanent Council from April 2 to 17, 2003.
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I.SUBMISSION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IACHR BY ITS PRESIDENT, MARTA ALTOLAGUIRRE
Distinguished Chair of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs, distinguished representatives of the member states of the Organization and observers, ladies, and gentlemen:
In my capacity as President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, I am pleased to submit to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Permanent Council the Annual Report of the Commission for 2002. I am accompanied by Mr. Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, and professional staff of the Secretariat.
The report that we are submitting today to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs was approved by the IACHR during its 117th regular session, held in February and March of this year. The document was prepared in keeping with the standards set forth in resolution AG/RES. 331 (VIII-O/78) of the General Assembly, and in keeping with the provisions of Article 57 of the IACHR’s Rules of Procedure. This report reflects the general activities of the Commission carried out during the Presidency of Commissioner Juan Méndez.
In the course of the year, the Commission paid special attention to the acts of international terrorism. The sequelae of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have led to a collective analysis of the lawful means to be used to prevent such actions and to clarify and determine responsibilities when they do occur, and on the nature and scope of strategies to prevent them. The legitimacy of such efforts to determine responsibility for and to prevent terrorist acts is necessarily tied to the very purposes of the democratic state, and it is precisely for this reason that their implementation must be respectful of the limits established in keeping with the principles of government by rule of law and international law. Anti-terrorist initiatives, whatever the exceptional situation that justifies their adoption and their scope, must be addressed with full respect for international law and international human rights law. It is an area in which the member states of the OAS should be careful to preserve the balance between their duty to protect the civilian population and democratic institutions, and their obligation not to neglect citizen security and the function of administering justice with the proper guarantees and without arbitrary acts.
In December 2002, the Commission made public its “Report on Terrorism and Human Rights,” in which it presented a study on the effective observance of and respect for fundamental rights in the face of the anti-terrorist initiatives legitimately undertaken by the member states, based on its experience spanning more than four decades, and the standards of international law. In its report, the Commission articulates various fundamental principles concerning the necessary relationship between fighting terrorism and protecting human rights in emergency situations. My predecessor, Commissioner Juan Méndez, made a comprehensive presentation on this matter to you.
The anxiety generated by the threat of terrorist violence and by concerns about the prospects for countering it, as well as the war currently unfolding in Iraq, tend to distract the attention of the authorities and of at least a part of public opinion from many of the endemic economic, social, and cultural problems that beset the societies of our Hemisphere, and especially the most vulnerable sectors. Yet as these problems persist and grow worse, they are eroding citizen participation in the democratic process, damaging the bases of democracy and weakening its effectiveness as an instrument of government and social harmony. Moreover, they continue to exacerbate the prospects of violence and more terrorist acts.
The IACHR views with concern the continuing deterioration of the democratic institutional framework. Even though periodic elections are held in the countries of our Hemisphere, many democracies of the region display institutional weaknesses and are even exposed to coup attempts or alterations of the constitutional order. Fortunately, the member states of the OAS are today consistent in collectively rejecting such efforts, invoking instruments such as resolution AG/RES.1080 and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. In addition, the Commission notes with concern that the limits on government power determined by domestic law are, in some cases, evaded or ignored, thereby undermining the rule of law and a weakening the institutional framework.
Corruption, poverty, and exclusion, and social, economic, ethnic, and gender inequalities all contribute to the lack of juridical security, and therefore to instability. This situation, aggravated by the lack of effective access to justice, not only contributes to perpetuating the inefficiency and impunity that beset the operation of the Hemisphere’s judicial systems, but also leads to the exclusion of citizens from the administration of justice, whether as judicial officers, or as plaintiffs or claimants. Distrust of the justice systems when they fail to provide protection to victims is accentuated in relation to the most vulnerable when they are subjected to discrimination, and when they do not even facilitate effective access for the determination of their rights. These factors coincide with the mounting sense of insecurity of the citizens in the face of increased criminality and the tendency of many to take “justice” into their own hands.
In this hemispheric context, which mostly reflects global realities, the mechanisms for the protection of human rights should continue to play a fundamental role. Along these lines, the work of promotion, prevention, monitoring, reporting, and representation played by human rights defenders and justice system workers continues to be vital for respecting the fundamental rights of our countries’ populations. The activity of human rights defenders and their organizations makes it possible to gain access to information and to make visible the situation of vulnerable groups, of persons who are affected by violence, poverty, exclusion, and discrimination, and by the excesses committed in emergency situations, and to respond to their complaints. As a result of the work carried out by human rights defenders and organizations nationally, regionally, and internationally, in many cases they are targeted by violence, and the member states, in the context of the deliberations of the political organs of the Organization and the IACHR, have begun to explore their responsibility for ensuring their security and their ability to do their work free from such attacks.
The integrity and effectiveness of the protection offered to the inhabitants of the Hemisphere by the system depends essentially on the efforts of the member states to adopt the domestic provisions of law required by the inter-American human rights system and to attain its universality through ratification of the American Convention and the other human rights instruments, and acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Court; on compliance with the obligation to bring their domestic legislation into line with their international obligations, and to ensure that the organs of the State, particularly the judiciary, properly interpret and apply them; and, finally, on compliance with the international commitments and the recommendations and decisions of the Commission and the Court. All of these are necessary for the system to be effective.
In the course of the year, the IACHR continued to address these and other hemispheric challenges, through the exercise of its mandate to promote and protect human rights. The Commission continued its work in relation to the situation of especially vulnerable groups, through the work of its special rapporteurships for the rights of children, women, indigenous peoples, and migrant workers, which are reflected in Chapter VI of this annual report. The IACHR has also paid special attention to the situation of Afro-descendants, both through its promotion work and its studies of the general human rights situation in the member states, its individual cases, and precautionary measures. The Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression has also continued its important promotional and advisory work, reflected in its report corresponding to 2002.
As in the last decade, in 2002 migration occupied a privileged place on the political agenda of numerous countries of the Americas, due to the increasing migratory flows in the Hemisphere, which have different causes. In addition to the historical migratory movements that characterize the region, the economic and political crises in different parts of the region increased the number of persons migrating in the Americas. Migratory pressures, together with the concern for security stemming from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led to considerably stepped-up controls, and, in many cases, harsher policies towards migrant workers and their families who face special situations in the administrative proceedings in a large number of countries in the Americas.
Under the mandate conferred by the IACHR, in the past year the Special Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and their Families undertook several activities, including thematic visits to three OAS member states, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. In addition, it participated in several promotion activities, including developing a Program for the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights of Migrants in the Americas; it gave talks and held workshops on the inter-American system for the protection of human rights; it participated in conferences and fora on migration; and it developed and furthered institutional ties with inter-governmental organizations and civil society organizations that work on behalf of migrant workers in the region.
In relation to the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women, in this Report we include the IACHR’s conclusions on the first thematic visit by the Rapporteur. It was held in February, at the invitation of the Government of President Vicente Fox, to examine the situation of violence against women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
In its work plan for this year, the Special Rapporteurship will focus mainly on the issue of women’s access to justice, with special emphasis on the causes of violence against women and the difficulties entailed in overcoming it.
On analyzing the situation of women’s rights in the region, the Rapporteur has indicated that the local, national, and regional initiatives to address human rights violations with gender-specific causes and consequences have been able to establish certain basic standards that are key, particularly with respect to discrimination and violence against women. The main challenge we continue to face is the divide between these standards and the experience of women in the Americas. In this respect, the Special Rapporteurship has focused on the problem of impunity and its impact perpetuating human rights violations with gender-specific causes and consequences. Impunity in such cases undermines the very system of guarantees, and creates a climate favorable to repeated violations to the detriment of human dignity and the most fundamental rights. The Special Rapporteurship urges the member states to redouble their efforts to apply due diligence in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing acts of discrimination and violence against women, implementing the principles of the Convention of Belém do Pará, which has been ratified by almost all the member states, and all the other instruments of the system. In relation to this obligation, it is crucial for the states to grant the victims speedy access to effective justice.
As is known to distinguished representatives, in 2001, a technical cooperation agreement was signed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the OAS to strengthen the IACHR’s Rapporteurship on Children’s Rights, which has been developing successfully. In the context of the project, the Rapporteurship on Children’s Rights has compiled international and regional instruments on the human rights of children, systematizing the doctrine and case-law of the inter-American system, in a publication entitled “Children and Their Rights in the Inter-American System for Protection of Human Rights.”
In addition, several promotion visits are being made and workshops held on the human rights of children, and on the mechanisms offered by the inter-American system for their protection. Those workshops have been held in 2002, and in the first months of 2003, in Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Mexico. The participants have been government officials and defenders of children’s rights. These activities have significantly disseminated the various mechanisms the system offers. During the 116th regular session of the IACHR, in Washington, D.C., a public hearing was held attended by representatives of UNICEF and various regional organizations that work on children’s rights.
In its effort to strengthen, promote, and systematize its work in the area of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Commission created the Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 1990. Since 2000, the contributions of the Human Rights Program for Central America (PRODECA) of the Government of Denmark have supported the project “Strengthening the Capacity of the Inter-American System for the Defense of Human Rights in the Communities, Ethnic Minorities, and other vulnerable groups affected by the conflicts in Central America,” enabling the Commission to form a specialized support team in the Rapporteurship, currently made up of one specialist attorney and one fellow. In 2002, it was possible to expand the “Rómulo Gallegos” fellowship to include a position specially designated for young indigenous attorneys from Central America interested in gaining experience and knowledge in human rights and indigenous law.
In 2002, with the reinforcement of its professional staff, the IACHR was able to make significant progress in processing the petitions and cases before the IACHR related to indigenous peoples and their members. There has also been a furthering of the knowledge of indigenous peoples, their leaders, and their defenders with respect to the possibilities of gaining access to the inter-American human rights system, which in practical terms has meant an increase in complaints for violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples related to issues such as ancestral territory, political rights, and discrimination, among others. At the same time, civil society has become more aware of the breadth and depth of the jurisprudence in the inter-American human rights system on the rights of indigenous peoples. At present, more than 70 petitions and/or cases are being processed by the IACHR related to these rights.
The Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression prepared the Report on the Situation of Freedom of Expression in the Americas, which is part of the Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). It should be noted that during 2002, after evaluating candidates in a public competitive hiring process, the IACHR chose the second Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, designating Eduardo Bertoni, who began to serve in this position in May 2002. This is the fifth Annual Report prepared by the Office of the Special Rapporteur since its creation in 1997, and it continues to consist of six chapters.
Chapter I of the Report considers the mandate and competence of the Rapporteurship, as well as the activities carried out in 2002. Chapter II contains a description of some aspects related to the situation of the freedom of expression in the countries of the Hemisphere. In order to help promote the comparative case-law, Chapter III summarizes the case-law of the inter-American system and the domestic case-law from the member states. Chapter IV develops an initial approach to the question of “Freedom of Expression and Poverty,” addressing issues related to the mechanisms for the poor to gain access to public information with the legal use of community means of communication, and with the exercise of the right to lawful expression and to assembly in public spaces. In the section on desacato and criminal defamation laws, Chapter V, emphasis is placed on the need to repeal the crime of desacato, or contempt for public authorities, and the few advances made by the countries of the Hemisphere in this area from 1998 to 2000 are described. Chapter VI sets forth recommendations to the states to investigate the assassinations, kidnappings, threats, and acts of intimidation against journalists and other media personnel, and to prosecute the persons responsible; to promote the derogation of desacato and criminal defamation and slander laws; and to enact laws that make possible broad access to information.